Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Energy: Cooperatives

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to encourage investment in community energy generation.

Claire Perry: This Government has put clean growth at the heart of its Industrial Strategy. As set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, we will ensure that local communities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are empowered to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the clean energy economy. This will ensure they are better able to make use of local skills and energy resources in order to drive widespread inclusive economic growth. We expect local areas to consider clean energy and the economy-wide shift to clean growth as important elements in the development and implementation of Local Industrial Strategies.Since 2013, the UK Government have committed over £16m to directly support community energy. This includes the Rural Community Energy Fund which continues to offer feasibility and development finance for renewable energy projects. In addition, community renewable energy projects remain eligible to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-In Tariff (FiT) schemes. The Government is also currently considering options for the design and delivery of the main scheme of the £320m Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP), including opening it out to community groups.The UK Green Finance Taskforce has been convened to provide government with recommendations on how to accelerate the growth of green finance, and the Terms of Reference include the question of connecting small-scale, local projects to sources of finance.

Energy: Prices

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish evidence of the merits of (a) an absolute and (b) a relative price cap for gas and electricity consumers on standard variable tariffs.

Margot James: The Government has published a draft Bill for a temporary cap on domestic standard variable and default energy tariffs. The impact assessment that accompanies the draft Bill includes analysis of the merits of a relative and absolute price cap.

Manufacturing Industries

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to (a) encourage domestic investment and (b) raise productivity in the manufacturing sector.

Claire Perry: Through our Industrial Strategy, we will make sure that we are using all the tools we have to boost local growth, encouraging domestic investment and productivity.We need credible long-term strategies to help local economies, which is what local industrial strategies will do. Based on rigorous analysis, they will identify local strengths, future opportunities and the action needed in each area to boost productivity and competiveness.We will increase the National Productivity Investment Fund from £8 billion to £31billion and extending it to 2022-23. We are launching an action plan to unlock over £20 billion of patient capital investment to finance growth in innovative firms over 10 years. As part of this, we will establish a new £2.5 billion Investment Fund in the British Business Bank. We are increasing R&D tax credits for large businesses from 11% to 12% from January 2018, as part of the drive to increase R&D investment to 2.4% by 2027.We will invest a further £725m in a second wave of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund across the UK to respond to some of the greatest global challenges and opportunities and support sector productivity. We are also continuing to support the High Value Manufacturing Catapults, which we have invested £300 million over the past 5 years, to support commercialisation of the innovation of new technologies that will be crucial to UK manufacturing success.The new Industrial Strategy Council will be tasked with taking a long term view and will be responsible for putting the right evaluation and reporting structures in place to assess the progress of our Industrial Strategy.

Renewable Energy

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2017 to Question 119064, what estimate his Department has made of the increase in generation capacity of (a) large scale onshore wind (England), (b) small scale onshore wind (England), (c) large scale solar PV, (d) small scale solar PV, (e) large scale hydro, (f) anaerobic digestion, (g) tidal and (h) wave in each year from 2018-19 to 2024-25, outside of any increases that may arise from committed departmental policies.

Richard Harrington: The Department has not made any estimates of an increase of generation capacity of these technologies beyond any increases that may arise from the implementation on already announced policies.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish a sensitivity analysis setting out emissions reductions in each sector of the economy.

Claire Perry: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) publishes annual updated energy and emissions projections, which project future energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. These include projections of emissions reductions by sector, and sensitivity to fossil fuel prices and economic growth.The 2016 energy and emissions projections are the most recent published projections. These are available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2016The 2017 edition of the energy and emissions projections will be published early next year.

Royal Mail: Privatisation

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December to Question 113922, how many of the Royal Mail's 142,000 staff are not on permanent contracts; and how many shares have been sold by employees since privatisation of the Royal Mail.

Margot James: Details of Royal Mail’s employee numbers and share ownership are published in Royal Mail’s Corporate Responsibility Report. The Government does not hold these records.

Industry

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the sustainability of sectors that do not agree sector deals.

Claire Perry: Businesses have emphatically welcomed our proposal to have sector deals - strategic, long term partnerships between industry and government to grow, invest and increase productivity.The Government is prepared to work with any sector which can self-organise behind strong leadership and bring forward compelling proposals for a Sector Deal that demonstrate a significant impact to their productivity and earning power and which align with our Industrial Strategy.There is no requirement for a sector to have a Sector Deal and we do not anticipate concluding Sector Deals with every sector. Criteria for the assessment of Sector Deal proposals are set out in our Industrial Strategy.

Wind Power

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December to Question 118980, how many onshore wind farms he expects to be deployed by March 2019 as a result of the (a)  Renewables Obligation, (b) Contracts for Difference Regime (CFD) and (c) Control for Low Carbon Levies; what the timetable is for state aid approval to classify remote island wind as separate technology in group 2 of the CFD; and what proportion of the UK's energy needs he estimates is likely met from on shore wind by 2025.

Richard Harrington: The Department estimates that 12.6GW of onshore wind installed capacity will be deployed by the end of 2018/19 under the Renewables Obligation.[1]Fifteen onshore wind projects have entered into a Contract for Difference (CFD) with the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), a Government-owned company that administers the CFD regime. The latest information published by the LCCC indicated that for thirteen of these projects, totalling approximately 564MW of capacity, the generator currently expects the station to start generating before the end of March 2019. The published start dates are estimates and subject to change. The LCCC publish information about projects supported by the CFD scheme on their website in a CFD Register - https://lowcarboncontracts.uk/cfdsNo additional onshore wind installed capacity is expected to be deployed as result of the Control for Low Carbon Levies by March 2019.Estimated renewable capacities for onshore wind and other technologies up to 2024-25 are set out in Table 1.B of the Control for Low Carbon Levies.[2] It is expected that 13.32GW of onshore wind installed capacity will be deployed in the UK by 2024-25.Discussions with the European Commission regarding state aid approval to classify remote island wind as a separate technology in group 2 of the CFD are ongoing and we cannot comment on the content of those discussions.[1] The Renewables Obligation for 2018/19 (September 2017), BEIS: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/648424/Renewables_Obligation_2018_19_FINAL.pdf [2] Control for Low Carbon Levies (November 2017), HMT: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/660986/Control_for_Low_Carbon_Levies_web.pdf

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Companies: British Overseas Territories

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the UK Overseas Territories on the adoption of public registers of beneficial ownership in the UK Overseas Territories.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​At the Joint Ministerial Council on 28-29 November, the Minister for the Overseas Territories (OTs), Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, and leaders of the OTs welcomed progress made by those OTs with financial services centres in implementing the arrangements set out in the Exchange of Notes on exchange of beneficial ownership information. They committed, where not already achieved, to expedite work to ensure that the new systems were fully operational and populated.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Written Questions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of his Department's Answers to Written Parliamentary Questions in the 2017-18 Session to date have referred to the information requested not being (a) collected or (b) collated centrally.

Sir Alan Duncan: In the 2017-18 session The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have answered 19 written parliamentary questions explaining that the requested information was not available on the grounds of it not being collected or held centrally. This is out of a total of 1859 parliamentary questions that have been answered so far. These figures are correct as of 20 December 2017.

Department for International Development

Syria: International Assistance

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with the representatives of the United Nations on restoring the provision of humanitarian aid to Eastern Ghouta.

Alistair Burt: Humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta remains severely constrained by the Assad regime. Where access allows, our partners including WHO and UNICEF are providing life-saving healthcare and protection. The UK continues to demand full and sustained humanitarian access in order to allow medical evacuations to take place.

Syria: Foreign Aid

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what information his Department holds on the level  of United Nations aid that has been given provided to (a) the Assad regime and (b) Eastern Ghouta in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Humanitarian organisations deliver aid directly to those in need across Syria. Neither the UK nor the UN delivers aid to the Assad regime.Since 2012, the UK has allocated £835 million to support vulnerable people inside Syria including in besieged areas such as Eastern Ghouta, where DFID’s humanitarian partners are on the ground providing life-saving food, protection, and healthcare where access allows. We do not hold information on the amounts of aid the UN delivers to specific geographic areas in Syria.

Syria: Overseas Aid

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much aid her Department has provided to (a) the Assad regime and (b) Eastern Ghouta in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Humanitarian organisations deliver aid directly to those in need across Syria. Neither the UK nor the UN delivers aid to the Assad regime.Since 2012, the UK has allocated £835 million to support vulnerable people inside Syria including in besieged areas such as Eastern Ghouta, where DFID’s humanitarian partners are on the ground providing life-saving food, protection, and healthcare where access allows. We do not hold information on the amounts of aid the UN delivers to specific geographic areas in Syria.

Developing Countries: Education

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department is making in developing the education strategy discussed in Westminster Hall on 6 July 2017 on global education: G20 summit.

Alistair Burt: Significant progress has been made on developing DFID’s new education policy. Since July, we have reviewed the latest evidence on how to deliver quality education, much of which is funded by DFID. We have also consulted extensively, including engaging with education experts in academia, the public and private sectors, and international organisations. This has enabled evaluation of where DFID can add the most value. We are developing a policy in line with our strengths and expertise. We anticipate the policy will be launched in early 2018.

Developing Countries: Education

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is undertaking research on access to education for disabled children and the supply of teachers to inform its Education Strategy discussed in Westminster Hall on 6 July 2017 in the debate on global education: G20 summit.

Alistair Burt: DFID has a dedicated Education Research Team with a £12m per annum portfolio of innovative research on education systems, raising learning outcomes, and learning and skills beyond primary education. This research portfolio has a particular focus on disadvantaged groups and the pursuit of an equitable start to learning for all. Research commissioned through this team, along with the UK Research Community, has ensured that teachers, equity and systems reform are at the centre of DFID’s new education policy.DFID has commissioned rigorous reviews of existing evidence and, as a result of the findings, concluded a focus on children with disabilities. For example, one research project, which is funded by DFID through the UK Economic and Social Research Council, investigates different modalities for teaching literacy in deaf communities in India, Ghana and Uganda. Wider inclusion and equity issues are fundamental to all DFID’s education research programmes, and we seek to mainstream them.

Global Partnership for Education

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will maintain the current level of funding for the Global Partnership for Education at the 2018 Replenishment Conference.

Alistair Burt: DFID is proud to be a strong financer of global education. We have made the largest overall contribution to GPE since 2003, and our future investment in GPE will be a crucial part of achieving our new policy objectives. DFID maintains a close working relationship with GPE and currently funds 15% of GPE operations. The UK has been working with GPE through its Executive Board so that it has a compelling case for investment. The UK fully supports a successful replenishment. I am unable to comment on what the UK will contribute at this time, officials are in the process of advising ministers.

International Citizen Service

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the long-term economic effect of the International Citizen Service projects on communities in developing countries.

Alistair Burt: The most recent evaluation of the International Citizen Service (ICS) programme was conducted in October 2017 and found that, on economic development, ICS entrepreneurship projects helped new entrepreneurs to start up businesses, and helped established entrepreneurs to build links with new markets and develop skills, such as record keeping.Entrepreneurship projects are fully consistent with the priorities set out in DFID’s Economic Development Strategy, published in January 2017.DFID and VSO, who deliver ICS, are currently undertaking research on the long-term economic benefits, to be completed over the next 18 months.

Syria: Humanitarian Aid

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered in East Ghouta and other besieged areas in Syria.

Alistair Burt: Humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta remains severely constrained by the Assad regime. Our partners are on the ground providing life-saving support, but desperately needed aid supplies are unable to reach them. The UK continues to demand full and sustained humanitarian access into Eastern Ghouta, and to all other besieged areas in Syria.

Developing Countries: Education

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what oversight (a) in general and (b) of the content taught the Government conducts of education programmes funded by UK Aid.

Alistair Burt: All programmes are monitored on a regular and ongoing basis by staff and external partners using a variety of tools to track progress against the results framework. This includes due diligence assessments, field visits, Annual Reviews, Project Completion Reviews, and delivery plans. Ministers are made aware of any programmes which are not on track to deliver the expected outputs and will discuss with teams whether they should be restructured or closed. DFID’s Internal Audit Department conducts periodic in-depth reviews of programmes, including visits to all country offices at least every two years.Our network of education advisors regularly review the content which is taught in our education programmes. We also support a range of programmes which develop new educational materials to improve learning outcomes. For example, the resources of our Connecting Classrooms programme help young people to develop the knowledge, skills and values (e.g. critical thinking and tolerance) to live and work in a globalised economy.

Ministry of Justice

Fraud: Prosecutions

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy for there to be a review of the options for law reform to ensure that large companies and financial institutions can be prosecuted for economic crime in the UK.

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to publish a call for evidence on the need for legal reform to extend corporate criminal liability beyond bribery and tax evasion.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice carried out a call for evidence on corporate criminal liability for economic crime in 2017, to establish whether further reform of the law was necessary. The response will issue in due course.

Ministry of Justice: ICT

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice,  what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice is aligned with the Government Commercial Function paper "Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments" having started a programme of disaggregation of its major IT supplier contracts with the award of it “FITS” Contracts between 2013 and 2015 - these contracts have already delivered substantial cost savings. The MoJ is reviewing its IT strategy and commercial approach with support from colleagues in the Cabinet Office, and is and planning for further disaggregation as the FITS Contracts expire. The MoJ is also planning a programme of market engagement to gather market insight to guide its disaggregation approach - towards a vision of market-aligned, cloud-first services. The size and skill mix of our in-house management team is being reviewed to ensure it has the skills and resources ready to manage supplier and service transition effectively.

Courts: Disability

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to ensure that all court services across the country are committed to the Disability Confident initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Phillip Lee: The MoJ achieved Disability Confident Leader status in October 2017. The externally accredited application reflected the commitment and work of all parts of the organisation including Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. HMCTS’ Chief Executive is also the MoJ’s Board-level Disability Champion and is developing an internal HMCTS Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategy for staff, which will include a commitment to continuing to improve the experience of court services for disabled court users. One of the steps taken is to provide new guidance which is currently being finalised. This includes reasonable adjustments and a tool kit for staff to support the requirements of court users; disability awareness training for court staff; communication support for HMCTS customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired - for example using British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and ensuring there are court rooms with hearing enhancement systems; and providing staff with access to support through a new initiative called Mental Health Allies along with training on mental health, to better support vulnerable court users. The MoJ will continue to focus on improving disability confidence across the organisation and the services it provides.

Package Holidays: Compensation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the Government's timescale is for implementing any changes resulting from his Department's recent call for evidence on fraudulent gastric illness claims.

Dr Phillip Lee: On 9 July 2017, the Secretary of State announced a package of measures to tackle abuse in this area. One of these was the Call for Evidence which closed on 10 November. We are considering the way forward and will announce the next steps in due course, with a view to implementing any changes as soon as practicable.

Prisoners

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours per day was that prisoners were kept in cells in each prison in the UK in each of the last five years.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Government is fully committed to making our prisons deliver safe and decent regimes and is actively taking the measures necessary to ensure that. We are boosting the number of prison officers by 2,500 and we have already reached the halfway mark over the past year with a further 1,211 candidates who have received job offers.

Ministry of Justice: Social Mobility

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to improve social mobility in each of the last seven years.

Dr Phillip Lee: At present, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is ranked as the UK’s 14th most progressive employer for social mobility, according to the 2017 Social Mobility Foundation Employer Index.MoJ embarked on a targeted programme of work to address the issue of social mobility following the publication of the Civil Service Talent Action Plan in March 2016.The department has a Director General Champion of Social Mobility, and released its first Social Mobility Action Plan in November 2017.The Plan sets out the department’s ambition in seven key aims, based on the seven sections of the Employer Index: 1) Working with young people, 2) Routes into work, 3) Attraction, 4) Recruitment and selection, 5) Data collection, 6) Progression and 7) Internal / external advocacy.Each aim is underpinned by associated actions that will promote greater socio-economic diversity and increase opportunities for social mobility across the department.Recent steps taken to date to improve social mobility can be found at Annex A.



PQ120459 - ANNEX A
(Word Document, 14.42 KB)

Courts: Interpreters

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate has he made of the number of unfilled cases since the contract to provide interpreters to all courts was contracted out; and if he will make a statement?

Dr Phillip Lee: I have provided the number of unfilled cases in my response to Question 120475. The number of overall unfilled bookings is available in the published Criminal Court Statistics at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2017 Table L1 in Languages interpreter and translation services show the number of unfulfilled requests has continued to decrease since 2013. The department continues to monitor its language service services contract closely with the suppliers to drive improvements and reduce the cost on the taxpayer.

Courts: Interpreters

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual value is of the private contract to provide interpreters to courts in England and Wales; and how much is spend on each region on that contract.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice has two contracts which provide face to face interpreting services to courts and tribunals, Lot 1 (Face to Face, Telephone and Remote Foreign Language Interpreting) and Lot 3 (Face to Face and Remote Non-Spoken Language Interpreting). These contracts began on 31st October 2016 and make provision for the Ministry of Justice, her Agencies and Arm’s Length Bodies as well as other organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service to procure these services. The spend in the first year of these contracts (31st October 2016 – 31st October 2017) was as follows, with the spend relating to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service bookings broken down by region:Lot 1HMCTS RegionSpendLondon£11,569,011Midlands£4,646,429National Business Centre£416,330North East£2,331,041North West£2,171,464Scotland£439,775South East£3,369,445South West£896,494Wales£784,002Total (HMCTS)£26,623,993Total (all commissioning bodies)£27,978,803Lot 3HMCTS RegionSpendLondon£193,731Midlands£122,031National Business Centre£173,418North East£116,511North West£63,255Scotland£9,240South East£106,269South West£39,675Wales£31,160West Midlands£380Total (HMCTS)£855,671Total (all commissioning bodies)£1,135,167

Courts: Interpreters

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the estimated cost to the public purse is of unfulfilled or cancelled cases in each year since the contracting out of interpreter services to all courts in (a) England and Wales and (b) each region.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested is not held centrally.

Courts: Interpreters

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many formal complaints there have been related to interpreter services in each year since that service was contracted out; and what the main reason was in each of those years for such complaints.

Dr Phillip Lee: This information can be found in the published tables contained within the quarterly Criminal Court Statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2017). The number of complaints in each year has decreased from 2013 to 2016. In 2013, the reason with the highest number of complaints was ‘no interpreter available’ (3562) – this accounted for 54% of complaints in 2013. In 2014, the reason with the highest number of complaints was ‘no interpreter available’ (1347) – 46% of total complaints. In 2015, the reason with the highest number of complaints was ‘no interpreter available’ (620) –30% of total complaints. For 2016 figures, we are unable to provide a breakdown of the reasons for complaint, this is because of the changeover of contract leading to missing complaint reasons for 2016 Q4. In the current year to date, the reason with the highest number of complaints is ‘interpreter was late’ (397) - this accounts for 25% of complaints to date.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Floods

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide compensation to farmers for the use of their land to store flood water.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Under the Water Resources Act 1991 the Environment Agency may, where appropriate, pay compensation when it has carried out a scheme to create an area of flood storage. This is where land is purposely flooded to intentionally store water away from a watercourse, helping to reduce flood risk downstream e.g. a flood storage reservoir. Flood risk management authorities do not pay compensation to farmers where their land floods naturally, for example on natural flood plains.

Local Authorities: Waste Management

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many local authorities have waste minimisation strategies pursuant to provisions of (a) the Waste Minimisation Act 1998 and (b) any other enactment.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Waste Minimisation Act 1998 gave powers to waste collection or disposal authorities to take steps to minimise the generation of controlled waste in their areas. The Government does not keep records of the number of local authorities with waste minimisation strategies. However, we would encourage local authorities to follow the waste hierarchy when planning delivery of their waste management arrangements. Guidance has been produced to help local authorities with their waste prevention planning, for instance through the Waste and Resources Action Programme Household Waste Prevention Hub:http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/developing-waste-prevention-plan.

Marine Environment: Fibres

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle the release of microfibres into the marine environment from washing clothes.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We are aware that microplastics enter the marine environment from many sources. To protect the marine environment, we are introducing one of the toughest bans in the world on the manufacture and sale of rinse-off personal care products containing microbeads. This will prevent potentially billions of these tiny pieces of plastics from entering the oceans. We also have engaged the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC) to review evidence on microplastics from other sources, including textiles, and their chances of reaching our seas and causing harm to marine life. The microbead consultation also asked for evidence on other sources of marine plastic pollution. We will use these responses and evidence from HSAC to develop future UK action to protect the marine environment.

Plastics: Waste

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the use of non-recyclable plastic straws.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: As announced by the Chancellor in his budget in November, my officials are working closely with HM Treasury and a call for evidence will be published early in 2018 seeking views on how the tax system or charges could reduce the amount of single-use plastics waste including non-recyclable plastic straws.

Joint Air Quality Unit

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2017 to Question 118244, if he will publish the programme of work to be undertaken by the Joint Ait Quality Unit for the next three years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Joint Air Quality Unit’s programme of work for the next three years involves implementing national measures and supporting local authorities to deliver local plans for improving air quality in the shortest possible time, as set out in the Government’s plan for tackling roadside concentrations of nitrogen dioxide published on 26 July 2017.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Department for Communities and Local Government: ICT

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department does not have any major IT contracts as defined in the guidance published in November 2017.Officials in my Department follow best practise guidance and principles published by Cabinet Office where applicable to the Department to ensure consistent commercial activity and delivery of continually improved services.

Planning Permission: Coastal Areas

Steve Double: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on planning applications (a) on and (b) near coastal cliffs.

Alok Sharma: The Government’s planning policies are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, which was published 2012. This includes policies on assessing planning applications in areas subject to coastal change. In a Coastal Change Management Area, local planning authorities should consider whether development will be safe over its planned lifetime without having an unacceptable impact on coastal change.They should also ensure that development does not hinder the creation and maintenance of a continuous signed and managed route around the coast. Further information is provided in our planning practice guidance on flood risk and coastal change, issued in 2014.The Framework also sets out policies on conserving and enhancing the natural environment, including maintaining the character of the undeveloped coast and improving public access to and enjoyment of the coast. To prevent unacceptable risks from land instability, the Framework expects local planning policies and decisions to ensure that new development is appropriate for its location.The Framework and the planning practice guidance can be accessed through at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/planning-practice-guidance

Aviation: Planning Permission

Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to strengthen planning guidance on aerodromes; and if he will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: The Government has a clear planning policy for airfields set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. It recognises the significant contribution that aviation makes to economic growth and requires local authorities, when preparing their Local Plans, to take account of the role of airfields in meeting business, leisure, training and emergency service needs.Planning guidance supporting the Framework makes clear to local authorities that they should consider the interconnectivity between airfields of different sizes and that they should have regard to the Aviation Policy Framework.

Aviation: Planning Permission

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of airfields potentially due to close as a result of planning permissions; and if he will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: The Government has a clear planning policy for airfields set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. It recognises the significant contribution that aviation makes to economic growth and requires local authorities, when preparing their Local Plans, to take account of the role of airfields in meeting business, leisure, training and emergency service needs.Planning guidance supporting the Framework makes clear to local authorities that they should consider the interconnectivity between airfields of different sizes and that they should have regard to the Aviation Policy Framework.

Local Authorities: Communication

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether it is compulsory for local authorities to offer residents a choice of how they wish to receive communications.

Mr Marcus Jones: It is not compulsory for local authorities to offer residents such a choice. The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity provides a series of principles which they should have regard to. Ultimately, it is up to local authorities how they make best use of communications channels to ensure residents are appropriately informed.

Rough Sleeping

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how many people have died while sleeping rough in each of the last seven years; and what steps the Government is taking to help prevent people from becoming seriously ill or dying while sleeping rough.

Mr Marcus Jones: No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why this Government has committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.The newly formed Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to achieve this.At Autumn Budget 2017, we announced £28 million of funding to pilot the Housing First approach for some of the country’s most entrenched rough sleepers. This funding forms part of the £1 billion that the Government has allocated until 2020 to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

Derelict Land

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s assessment is of the progress local authorities are making on developing their brownfield land register.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to promote the benefits of brownfield registers to local authorities, developers, and communities.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the development of small brownfield sites.

Alok Sharma: Local planning authorities are required to publish a statutory brownfield land register identifying which previously developed sites are suitable for housing by the end of 2017.My officials have been supporting the implementation of brownfield registers and permission in principle through an active programme of engagement since early summer. We are also identifying authorities to work with whose positive or innovative approach can be used to promote good practice. Further assistance will be provided in 2018 to help promote permission in principle on suitable sites on registers.Small sites, including sites on brownfield land, have a crucial role to play in increasing housing supply and speeding up delivery. That is why we announced in the Autumn Budget our proposal to expect authorities to bring forward 20 per cent of their housing supply as small sites. This will speed up the building of new homes and support the Government’s wider ambition to increase competition in the house building market. Brownfield registers can contribute to this alongside other measures as authorities have the discretion to include smaller sites in their registers and grant permission in principle on those sites if they wish.

Department for International Trade

Department For International Trade: ICT

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade’s (DIT) core IT is provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).BEIS is currently transforming their service which will continue to be provided to DIT.DIT do not hold any IT contracts over £20m, however DIT seeks to apply the principles contained within the guidance proportionately to any IT contracts wherever possible.

Department of Health

Contraceptives: Pregnancy

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency will review the description in ellaOne packaging that states that if you are already pregnant, it [ellaOne] will not interrupt an existing pregnancy.

Steve Brine: EllaOne is an ulipristal acetate-containing emergency hormonal contraceptive that is licensed for use within five days of unprotected sexual intercourse or contraceptive failure. It is classified as a female emergency contraceptive; it is not an abortifacient. It exerts its contraceptive action by preventing or delaying ovulation. EllaOne has never been studied as an abortifacient. It is not intended for use during pregnancy and should not be taken by any woman suspected or known to be pregnant. The information provided in each pack of ellaOne clearly informs women and healthcare professionals that it should not be taken by a woman who knows or suspect she is pregnant. The requirements for medicines labelling are set out within Title V of Council Directive 2001/83/EC. As ellaOne is authorised throughout the European Union the labelling particulars are agreed across all member states by the European Medicines Agency. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will be liaising with the European Medicines Agency to discuss whether any changes might be desirable within the terms of the marketing authorisation. As with all other licensed medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency keeps the safety of ellaOne under close review using a wide number of data sources.

Patients: Transport

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Age UK’s Painful Journeys campaign, what steps his Department is taking to make travelling to and from hospital easier for older people.

Steve Brine: The provision of appropriate patient transport services (PTS) in line with national guidance is a matter for local National Health Service commissioners. The Department is clear that medically eligible patients must have appropriate access to quality PTS to outpatient appointments. The document ‘Eligibility Criteria for Patient Transport Services’ sets out criteria for establishing which patients are eligible for non-emergency PTS. The guidance states that eligible patients should reach appointments in reasonable time and in reasonable comfort, without detriment to their medical condition.